Striving to answer the call to motherhood and wifeyhood with joy, Jesus, and crazy dancing.

Parenting Advice from my Lawn Mower

Man alive, I had a rough week last week with my recently turned 3 year old twin boys! They went from my sweet boys to what people call “three-nagers” overnight! I was pretty desperate to find some mommy inspiration anywhere I could this week and it turns out that inspiration came while mowing the lawn.

I’ve only mowed the lawn a handful of times in my life. It isn’t that I refuse to do it, it’s just that I’ve been scarred since I was a teenager when I tried to surprise my dad by mowing the lawn and ended up giving it a professional scalp job instead! Since then I’ve mowed the lawn a few times since I’ve been married and my husband (and neighbors) lovingly laugh at me while pointing out the very neat triangle patches of grass I seem to miss every time. Oh well, I tried! It really is funny; last time I even stopped the lawn mower and walked all over the yard inspecting my work. Perfect! Then, later that night, I realized I missed a whole side! Seriously, it probably just grew really fast right?!

Anyway, here’s what I learned about motherhood while mowing the lawn…

1.
Mowing the Lawn: The perfect straight lines are lovely, but it gets cut even if you zig-zag.Motherhood: Quit trying to be perfect, they are growing up to be wonderful kids even with your imperfections.

2. Mowing the Lawn: You kind of want to do it for the tan and the exercise.Motherhood: You kind of want to do it to make sure you’ve got someone to take care of you when you’re old. (Come on, I kid.)

3. Mowing the Lawn: You plow over the weeds and they disappear…until they come back bigger and badder. (Please just let “badder” be a word today.)Motherhood: You can only cover up bad behaviors in yourself and your kids for so long until they turn into real problems.

4. Mowing the Lawn: You have to stop for an occasional water break.Motherhood: You have to stop for occasionally often coffee breaks.

5. Mowing the Lawn: On hot days, you sweat a gallon of sweat.Motherhood: On most days, you sweat worrying about them, even though you’re trying your best not to be a mommy-hovercraft.

6. Mowing the Lawn: Sometimes despite your best efforts, you miss a patch of grass.Motherhood: You try to do everything, be everything, teach them everything, give them every opportunity; you can’t do it all, but you’re doing your best.

7. Mowing the Lawn: Sometimes you get blisters on your hands and your upper body goes numb from the lawn mower vibrations.Motherhood: Sometimes you feel beat up and numb from exhaustion, but you’ve got to fight back against the negativity your ego is trying to feed you, because you’re a great parent!

8. Mowing the Lawn: You just keep pushing even when you’re exhausted, because you just want to finish the entire lawn.Motherhood: You just keep pushing even when you’re exhausted, because you have little miracles that need you!

9. Mowing the Lawn: Sometimes you run out of gas or need to change the oil. When that happens, I call my hubby to help.Motherhood: Sometimes you run out of gas and need to immediately schedule a massage and a date with a good girlfriend.

10.Mowing the Lawn: There are always obstacles in your way, but it’s kind of fun to run circles around the trees.Motherhood: There are always obstacles that pop up, but rather than stressing that things didn’t go according to your plans, choose a positive attitude and make it fun!

11. Mowing the Lawn: You get in a groove, like you’re on auto-pilot.Motherhood: When you get in a groove, you are quickly shaken back to reality, because the “norm” doesn’t stay the norm for long. Seriously, how can they love Goldfish one week and hate them the next?! And how can 12:30pm be the naptime sweet spot for 3 weeks, but then they don’t want to sleep until 2pm the next week?!?

12.Mowing the Lawn: When you’re finished, you have an awesome sense of accomplishment.Motherhood: You’re never finished, but they’re always yours and you’re so proud of them!

Have a great week! Let’s keep in touch! Please connect via Facebook or Twitter.

Ha Ha never heard of three-nagers – cute! Fantastic post, thanks for sharing it with us. I can tell you put a lot of thought into this and I really enjoyed it. I always appreciate reminders to enjoy the journey and that we are not perfect but our kids don’t care.

Enjoyable to read! The sense of accomplishment when you finish the yard, is nothing compared to the pride you feel when your grown up “child” is everything you ever hoped he/she would be! Just wait! Thanks for sharing with us at the Inspire Me Mondays Link-Up!

This is adorable and so true! Please don’t judge but I’ve never cut a lawn. I thought about doing it the other day and upon reading your post am convinced mine will have zig-zags, triangles, and other geometric shapes. I love all these points (stopping for coffee is integral to my sanity), but especially about the weeds. It’s so true ❤

I’ve mowed the lawn twice in my life. Both times were this summer. When I do it again I will think of this post. I definitely got blisters and I always miss spots. Our mower is electric so when it’s done, it’s done for the day-that gets me out of pushing too far past the exhaustion. Too bad the kiddos never run out of energy to give me a break. Everything else though, is spot on for me! Love this post so much!

Hahaha I totally “LOL’d” at the title AND this post! I love it! In my case, I don’t stop for coffee, I stop at Starbucks for a Non-fat Chai Latte – totally my guilty pleasure, especially when I can barely keep my eyes open! I also love #8, motherhood has truly made me stronger both physically and mentally – I push myself in more ways than one, for my daughter and for myself! I think this is one of my favorite posts of yours! ❤

So great! I love the comparisons, and they are all true! I especially like the one about the obstacles because I really need to do that more. So funny about needing them to take care of you when you’re older. Isn’t that why we all had kids?! 😉 Kidding!